River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-10-20

| dlulUSl Hululn1s anu the lIdluo SeluOill
stopped unless tagged. Every few
days one of the mail clerks dropped
of little. square perfumed envelope
as the train whizzsd past On the re-
turn trip the same clerk was always
| on the lookout to reach friendly
hand for the answering letter. ad-
dressed to dear little maid in an
Eastern village
Hoo! love letters!" grinned Bob
bIes. II ustO carry 'em for Miss Allie.
She allus give IN, a dime for it. Had
to he mighty sly, tell We. jest as
sure as them boys found had a letter
an dime they d take the money from
me. an then kick me if didn't hurry
off TO the post-office with the letter.
OH" he added. with an infection
that wasintended to convey volumes.
''them was awful boys! They was
allus a-kickin' me for umpin," he
said. plaintively.
In little Eastern village dwelt the
blue-eyed. fiower-faced girl with whom
Jack Holiday had been a playmate in
/ the long ago time.
/ When young Jack left for the West
-as many brave-hearted fellow had
done befOre-io seek his fortune, little
Alice Hale had babe him a fearful
farewell at the old, weather-beaten
gate. in the shade of the dropping elm
tree
Just now rs he wrote. Jack seemed
TO see again the sweet. tear-wet face.
and TO inhale once more the perfume
Of the OdOrOus. blossOm-ladened lilacs.
There had been no formal declara-
ton of love. but each read tbs heart of
the other. and Jack knew that little
I Alice would wait for him till fortune
smiled upon him.
His meager salary. carefully saved.
had been judiciously invested i'm land.
and had accumulated the nucleus of a
little fortune At the base of the
great round-tOpped mound. which was
partly on his tract of land. coal mine
had been discovered. Already Eastern
capitalists had made him an offer for
il, aud it was understood that. should
he desire 10 part with it. the railroad
company would take it off his hands
al agoodly advance. Taking all things
into consideration. he felt himself
| justified in writing TO Alice and tell
ing her his love in terms as strong as
could be expressed by soulless pen and
paper.
He smiled softly to himself as he
wrote and pictured the sweet face of
| fbo ,-onf.N;art G,n,abu,,- tbo ,,,oir;a
breeze, that blew in at the released
window. seemed ladened with the per-
fume of IiIacs. The "click click Of
the telegraph saunders seemed half
changed To the buzz of the bumble-
bees that drOned lazily around the
fragrant old-fashioned towers be-
meath that old. dropping elm And.
seeing his friend ia happy mood. the
idiot bow laughed aloud. he knew not
why. Boobies made little progress after
learning to read. Arithmetic was a
sealed book 10 him. and geography
was a deep. dark mystery. Patiently
Jack labored TO teach him telegraphy.
but the task seemed a hopeless one.
He learned readily enough. and ap-
parently forgot Just as speedily.
Boobies would apparently memorize
the dots and dashes that go to make
up the Morse code. lie would sound
them correctly on the key. and imme-
diately, to all appearance. forget all
about the import of dots and dashes.
I'm afraid you are hopeless
case" Jack said one day when al
most ready to give up in despair.
| Reckon / am" returned Boobies.
grinning philosophic.lly. "Old Joe
ustO say so. Said hopeless idiot
stead of hopeless case. 'Spect he
knowed, too. Tor he was awful old;
most million. 1 guess"
Feel of my head" he said. sudden
" bending his white-thatched pate
for Jacks inspection.
Feel that dent5"
Yes.
We'll. ] want allus a idiot Old
Joe said -. He kuowed for ne was
worth most a million. he was"
Jack unused. There certainly was a
dent" as Boobies called it. in his
head. A blow of some kind had
caused it probably. 1t seemed TO him
that a small piece of the skull was
pressed down upon the brain. Maybe
this was the cause of the lads idiocy.
II removed. or rather lifted by n
physician. might not it restore the
boys lost intelligence? Jack had
read OF such cases and mentally re-
solved 10 have the experiment tried as
soon as the coal mine paid out" as
the saying is.
The days passed into weeks and the
weeks TO a month; the month grew
old, wanned and died. The next was
fast slipping away into the past. and
still no answer came 10 the tender let
ter that Jack had sent 10 little A lice
Hale. like a bark freighted with a
precious cargo of the hearts warmest
love.
Jacks face constantly wore n wor-
ried appearances. The cannOn-ball
fast mail train daily rushed by the lit
tie station as # yore. but no little
square envelopes were tossed off by
the mail clerk.
Every day Jacks question of.
ANY letter." would be answered BY
a positive '.Noap,' from Boobies. who
was always on the platform when the
cannou-ball rushed by. Boobies. the
innocent. was always there to wave his
hand in glad recognition Of Engineer
Billy Parker or Nike Walsh. the fire.
man. and to shake his fist at Hamil-
ton. the conductor whose kicking was
still fresh in Boobies memory. Jack
grew pale and thin AMI his jolly
smile became a rarity. No letter.
That meant he sorrowfully con-
cluded. that she had not been true TO
her half-spuken vow. Aud at the
thought Jack sadly bent his head.
| and R.nhh,es. ever watchfuL saw q